Comments on: The Changing Face Of Sports

By: JamesO

JamesO — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:26:13 +0000

Okay, but I’d counter that the ABC/ESPN exposure is negligable at best. Part of it is due to them, partly to Indycar’s weird packaging. Indycar’s only on ABC a handful of times. Even before VS entered the picture, it was bounced between ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. And if god forbid it ran long, it would get kicked from it’s current channel to conclude somewhere else, and you may-or-may-not find it. Combine that with being on sometimes Sunday, sometimes Saturday, occasionally Friday, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes at night, sometimes on consecutive weeks, often on alternating weeks, sometimes with a month of nothing in-between, and I don’t know how anyone expects to grab and hold new fans. One of football’s great assets is that you can quickly get into the schedule. Same with Nascar. Even basketball has a certain consistency. But Indycar is more akin to trying to watch track-and-field events on tv.

I don’t think ABC is the future any more than I think the IMS radio network is. They need a consistent schedule and a place to find it. Consistency will help people who want it find it, and hopefully establish habits.

By: The Speedgeek

The Speedgeek — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 22:02:45 +0000

How many promos did Fox run in the run up to their F1 coverage, though? I actually ask this out of complete ignorance, because I basically never watch Fox. I have a hard time imagining that they put nearly as much effort into touting their F1 coverage as they do for NASCAR, but that of course makes sense, given NASCAR’s domestic audience and Fox’s longstanding presence in that sport. Anyway, I actually think that the F1 number might have been low this weekend, because a lot of folks (this was almost the case for me) might not have known that this week’s race was on Fox instead of Speed. I’ll be very curious to see what the ratings look like for Valencia and Britain, because I think those’ll be more indicative of what an actual American F1 audience might look like.

I’m actually somewhat surprised that the F1 rating was that high, so maybe I’ve been underestimating the crowd that watches F1 in the States for quite some time. I think George puts up a great point, though, that any major network that wants to push a certain product (World Cup, for instance) is going to get a big number for that product unless it proves to be an utter dog (I’m thinking of the XFL here). I’ll be labeled a hopeless rube for this, but I actually think that if ABC/ESPN put in a fraction of the sort of effort into promoting upcoming IndyCar races that they’ve put into the World Cup, we’d see substantially better numbers than 0.6s. People (not me, though) complain about there being no stories to talk about in the IndyCar series. Can anybody tell me more than 2-3 storylines for the World Cup off the top of their head? If non-US team soccer games can get good ratings (Serbia/Ghana got over 5.5 million viewers; Algeria/Slovenia got nearly 4.0 million), then why wouldn’t IndyCar races get at least 1.0s with a real promotional push from ABC/ESPN?

OK, complaining about foreign drivers and boring street races starts….now.

By: billytheskink

billytheskink — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:26:15 +0000

It appears that a FOX TV contract saved the Big 12-2 at the 11th hour.

By: Bob White

Bob White — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:53:05 +0000

Sorry, but ESPN is not going to drop NASCAR.

NASCAR’s ratings, while a bit down, are still really strong. They regularly beat the other sports competition each weekend.

Will their next TV contract be smaller dollar-wise? Absolutely. The last TV contract was a terrible one for both FOX, ESPN and TNT.

But if people think there isn’t going to major competition for a entity (Cup) that gets consistant 3.5 to 4.5 ratings each week and another entity (Nationwide) who gets solid mid 1′s to low 2′s each week, they are not being smart.

And how about that F1 overnight rating on FOX? A .9? Wow. For the “world’s best drivers” in the “world’s best series”? That is a rating that Craftsman Trucks would likely get on FOX.

What does it prove? They ain’t many formula car/road racing fans in America. Probably many of the .9 watching on Sunday also are watching Indy Cars as well. Its just a very small group of folks and the chances of ever growing that by following a Euro-centric model in America, is suicide. Which most of the other failed formula-car series that have already went tits-up found out.

By: H.B. Donnelly

H.B. Donnelly — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:22:45 +0000

It’s looking more and more like Texas will keep itself partnered with the Big 12-minus-two. While I don’t know how this would necessarily effect auto racing (Nationwide Series on ESPN can’t possibly have much steam left in it), I can point out this one thing: Texas joining the PAC-whatever would’ve brought a gigantic alumni base into a conference that has a (admittedly small) TV contract with…VERSUS! That would’ve put some major eyes on IndyCar advertisements and might’ve helped sell some races…alas, it’s not meant to be.

You’re right about ESPN, though…we are fortunate to have at least some coverage from them because that’s the only coverage we’re gonna get that the mainstream might see at this point. We all know Randy Bernard has his ear to the ground and hears the rumblings…perhaps there will be some off-season meetings in Bristol over how IndyCar’s shows are produced. I know ESPN has it in them, as some of the stuff they’re doing at the World Cup (certain technical glitches aside) has been completely spectacular. Find a video of their World Cup opening video and put it up next to that ridiculous 500 open and you’ll see what I mean.

By: redd

redd — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:30:59 +0000

If the rights fees for football go up, then maybe someone (network or cable channel) would be left without football. And they may need alternative programming. I don’t think either way that college football will effect Indycar that much.

I do think more and more that 2012 will be a defining point in the history of open-wheel. For better or worse…

By: Oilpressure

Oilpressure — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 22:05:02 +0000

The point is that with the changing landscape in sports, ABC/ESPN may decide that the IZOD IndyCar Series is no longer an attractive property if the rights fees for college football goes up dramatically. While we may celebrate no more Marty Reid or Scott Goodyear; the drop in exposure from ESPN.com and their entire family of networks would make it even harder to lure the coveted “casual” fan. If that happens, the league had better be ready with an alternate plan.

Why did it take me 1300 words to say that earlier, when I just summed it up in one succinct paragraph? Hmmm….

By: JamesO

JamesO — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:47:57 +0000

I’m lost. I’m not really sure what the thesis here is. But part of it depends on how cynical you are to start. Every morning I watch the local TV news because I want the traffic report. If I’m watching the CBS station, I’m sure to get the info on what happened on Survivor and Big Brother. The ABC affiliate makes sure I heard about what’s going on with Dancing with the Stars. NBC is all about The Apprentice. And so on. Same with movie openings. NBC gets a lot of extra coverage of Universal’s stuff. Fox gets 20th. ABC covers Disney, and so on.

I just tune it out. There’s so little “news” in the news anymore.

By: gnome

gnome — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 19:50:43 +0000

Just letting you know, that was a good, well-thought article (per usual) – but I’ve been ignoring the Indycar websites & blogs for days. College Football (Big Ten!) is my favorite sport by far, so even though I’m a crazy racing fan, I’m much more concerned about what happens to the 10-team Big12 and the 12-team Big Ten. hah!

By: billytheskink

billytheskink — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:44:51 +0000

The University of Texas… they’ve killed one conference and are about to kill another; I wonder if the PAC-10 thinks they really have the muscle to keep them inline…

Whatever happens in conference realignment, I’m not so sure it would clog ESPN’s airwaves more than they are currently clogged. If a proposed PAC-10 (+2 or +6) network goes through, that could/would take games from ESPN. As would FOX/FSN looking to strengthen their relationship with the PAC-10 (and the Big 12-2, if by some slim chance it survives).